Giving Thanks

From loving family to supportive friends, the people in our lives keep us smiling in the good and keep us going in the bad. So with Thanksgiving so near, the Cincy Chic staff gives thanks to the people who offer little lifesavers as we tread the waters of life. Now, we could go on and on about our families and friends, but we have decided to help you in the process. We give thanks to the people who have helped us in each of Cincy Chic‘s departments and can help you too.

Health is Where the Heart Is

Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Amy Scalia thanks her trainer for turning her onto a heart-rate monitor. As the "calories burned" meter can be extremely unreliable (sometimes doubling or tripling what you actually burned), a heart-rate monitor helps keep Scalia on track with her exercise as it tracks her growth.

To keep course with her diet, Scalia looks to Betty Rodriquez-Hakes with Gourmet Betty. The Meal Plan System helps organize Scalia’s meals for the week so that she doesn’t resort to fast food as a result of poor planning. To read more about Gourmet Betty, check out "Self Centered" in this year’s Self issue.

While Rodriquez-Hakes and Scalia’s trainer helps Scalia stay healthy, Sales Manager Asheley Wessling ‘s nurse practitioner helped her stay alive. It was nurse practitioner Terry Halpin whose thoroughness led to the early detection of Wessling’s brain tumor. To learn more about Wessling’s story, check out the "Survivors among Us" in this year’s Survivorship issue.

Beautify Our Lives

Wessling; event planning intern Emily Johnson; and Jana Clear, the philanthropic marketing and public relations intern, all love their hair stylists. Sarina at Ejays Styling Salon (2897 Alexandria Pike in Newport) takes care of Johnson. And Darby at Mitchell’s Salon & Day Spa in West Chester (7795 University Court) has been keeping Clear happy for three years. "She always makes my highlights look natural and gives me a great haircut time after time," Clear says.

Amanda at Bella Rey (3235 Madison Road in Oakley) taught Wessling how to properly dry her hair (at no charge), helps her out with discounted products and squeezes her in if needed. Beyond that, her fun personality keeps Wessling entertained through it all. Bella Rey is located in suite No. 9 in the Salon Concepts building.

Besides her stylist, Wessling’s dermatologist is a little lifesaver. "Dr. Mona Foad [of the Cincinnati Dermatology Center] has helped me try to find a balancing act for my face to help control break outs and combat aging," Wessling says.

Editorial intern Emily Terbrueggen also has a fantastic skincare professional that helps her in her struggle with difficult skin. Licensed medical esthetician Casey Linton works at the Mandell-Brown Surgery Center. "I’ve been other places. She is the best!" Terbrueggen says. "She is also a real inspiration: She is young and she is working AND going to school full-time at Miami of Ohio and is so sweet and fun."

Skin fitness coach Ginny Fisher is my (Editor Linda Palacios) personal lifesaver in the beauty sector. As the owner of Studio G (8005 Plainfield Road, Suite 32 in Deer Park), she taught me about how to enhance my features with little tips and tricks of makeup, and the custom foundation she created for me works beyond better than any foundation I’ve tried in the past. Also, she is getting me in shape — with my eyebrows that is. For more information about Studio G, check out "The ‘Custom-her’ is Always Right" in this year’s Creativity issue.

Social Life Savers

As an international student away from India, her home country, social media intern Neelam Patil misses home-cooked meals, and Bombay Grocer (11965 Lebanon Road in Sharonville, Ohio) helps add that Indian flavor back into her cuisine. The store carries a large variety of authentic Indian spices; fresh vegetables; and ready-to-eat frozen curries, breads and desserts. "Not that I can match my mother’s cooking yet but thanks to Bombay Grocer I can at least impress my friends!" Patil says.

As Patil connects back to India through food, Johnson connects to friends and family with her phone, so she thanks the men who work at Verizon Wireless. "I always have problems with my phone and they are always so helpful and nice," she says.

Another group of technology-related lifesavers are the people behind the DVR. General Manager Libby Hodapp and her husband enjoy watching TV together, but with two small children, primetime TV turns to no time for TV. "With DVR we can record our favorite shows and watch them after the kids are in bed — provided we can stay awake long enough to finish the show," Hodapp says. "But if we don’t, we can watch it again at another time."

Fashionably Grateful

Both Wessling and Sales Executive Natalie Bieser appreciate their cobblers. Bieser keeps her shoes in shape with JCL Shoe Repair Services (7710 Laurel Avenue in Madeira), and Wessling turns to Mt. Lookout Shoe Repair (3152 Linwood Avenue). "They’ve fixed like nine million shoes of mine and always do a superb job cleaning them at the end of the season," Wessling says.

Wessling also thanks the people at Obsess Boutique (9393 Montgomery Road in Montgomery) for cute, unique outfits and Eddie Lane’s Diamond Showroom (9301 Montgomery Road in Montgomery) for all of her high-end jewelry needs.

Scalia keeps her fashions fresh with Stopits and Hollywood Fashion Tape. Stopits are slender, stick-on cotton liners you apply to your clothes for instant fashion protection. Hollywood Fashion Tape adds to that protection. "I don’t have to worry about puckering button-downs or flimsy tops," Scalia says. "This glorified double-sided tape has prevented many wardrobe malfunctions."

On-the-Job Assistance

Clear, a student at Xavier University, thanks Stephanie Vorhoff, her executive mentor at Xavier. Vorhoff provides excellent advice on life, Clear’s future career, and how Clear can put her best foot forward, Clear says.

As Vorhoff offers direction for Clear, Hodapp and I thank the makers of our laptops (aka our lives). "If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t be able to work from home or at events," Hodapp says. We both use Google calendar that keeps our lives in order with reminders of our meetings, deadlines and events. I use Gmail for extra organization, and love the genius behind the Gmail labs, including the ability to "undo" a sent e-mail, to work in my e-mail offline and to send mail from my Cincy Chic address.

When it comes down to it all, though, we at Cincy Chic would like to thank you, our readers. Without you, we would just be talking to ourselves, and there’s no fun in that. Thank you for reading, thank you for your feedback, thank you for attending our events, and thank you for your overall support. We couldn’t do it without you!

PHOTO CREDITS

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto